Catching Snowflakes
by Vivat Musa
Summary: Let's keep this short and sweet, shall we? Snippets into the lives of Ruby and Weiss, from their years at Beacon as teammates and friends, to their domestic life as partners and lovers. Rated T, just in case. (Cover Image created by me!)
1. Nightmare

**Nightmare**

 **8/17/18**

Ruby wakes up to a pounding sound. Her eyes instantly search the darkness for a threat—but another sound, one undertoning the pounding of her heart, makes her release her clenched fist. Weiss. Her breathing is steady, soft and even. She is lying on her back, her expression calm and her pink lips parted just slightly. The moonlight makes her skin shimmer like a slumbering princess in a fairy tale. Ruby smiles, thanking the angels that had created her.

She settles down, burrowing against the soft curve between Weiss' arm and breast. Ruby sighs, curling against the warmth. She traces Weiss hand lying against her stomach. Her fingers are slender and delicate, and yet she knows how unyielding they are even under the fiercest of blows. And yet her touch is as light as silk when she caresses her skin.

Ruby lets her eyes close—and instantly sees her mother's face, vivid and etched into her mind. Her features are contorted in pain, her eyes wide in fear. Ruby has seen that expression too many times, right before someone falls. She can't see what her mother is facing, but she feels it, feels its heavy presence right before it cuts her mother down.

Was it painful? Did she scream, or did she bear it stoically? Did she think of her, of her family waiting for her to return?

"...Ruby?"

She tenses.

"Yeah?"

"Your breathing's loud."

Ruby claps a hand over her mouth. " _Sorry!"_

A light pressure traces along her hairline.

"It's okay," the heiress exhaled, then shifts until she looking down at the girl. Her blue eyes shimmer like silver in the moonlight. "Another nightmare?"

She nods. Weiss exhales again. She finds her hand in the dark, and twines her fingers between hers, squeezing. "C'mere." Ruby scoots up until her head rests in the curve of Weiss neck. She breaths in, and could smell her mint soap—not as calculated as the spearmint and bergamot perfume that she would wear to assure finesse and confidence during business meetings, or the sharp peppermint and lemon for assertiveness when sealing deals, but a light and clean scent, soothed with lavender—and felt instantly at home.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Ruby shakes her head, her cheeks brushing her lover's soft skin like a pillow. "Nmm-mmm. In the morning."

"Alright." And no more needs to be said. They know that they can talk about it in the morning: Weiss would brew a cup of tea and make sure that the nightmare isn't a concern needing to be addressed, and Ruby would reassure her that she had taken care of those feelings a long time ago, and Weiss would understand, because they both know too well how one could still be haunted by memories even if they had been buried long ago.

So instead, Weiss rests her head against hers, and hums under her breath. The song isn't one Ruby had grown up with, having been raised with Yang's more bawdish substitutes for lullabies. But it sounds like she had always known it as she feels the melody thrumm within Weiss' chest like a purr, only for it to rise and fall like a winter breeze on a quiet, snowy night.

The melody lulls her thoughts, and softens the image of her mother until her wide eyes slowly melt away like a snowflake on her tongue, until the only impression she is left with is the lulling melody and Weiss' warm embrace, where she could stay for hundreds of years and never let go.


	2. Late-Night Studying

**So, heads-up: I'm basing this collection off a friend's AU where Ruby, Weiss, Pyrrha, and an OC (no, not a self-insert OC :P ) are on a team (blasphemy, I know). There shouldn't be that much of an issue since I'm writing about moments either** _ **outside**_ **the show or too small to be really shown by the canon, but I thought I'd give you all a fair warning so you have context.**

As soon as the door closed behind her, Ruby dropped her backpack by her desk and collapsed on the chair, thankful that none of her roommates were there to see. She didn't know if she should jump out screaming or just drop her head on the desk and never look up. She decided to do the latter.

 _Thunk!_ Her head hit the surface, but the pain barely registered, drowned out in her buzzing thoughts.

 _She_ , Ruby Rose, had just finished her first day at no other than _Beacon_ _Academy_. Her face split into a grin as she stamped her feet, releasing a quick squeal of happiness into the air. _Hahaha!_ She did it! She felt like she could float!

 _Oh my Dust._ She's done it… The floating feeling fizzled out, and she landed back onto her chair like a rock, her chest clenching. Her dream's come true. ...Now what?

Well, now she gets to be a student at Beacon. Simple as that...right? But Ozpin's orientation speech kept ringing in her head: " _And all I see is wasted energy."_

Ruby had more experience with Ozpin than the other students since he had recruited her, so she'd expected some cynicism...but that didn't make what he said any less disconcerting. The way he had peered down on them with that narrowed gaze was like an omen. An omen for what, she wasn't quite sure, but she had a feeling she didn't want to find out. Ruby gulped.

What if she didn't live up to his expectations? What if she _was_ just wasted energy? She might be at Beacon, but that didn't mean she knew what she was doing. She had tricks up her sleeves, but what about talent, or direction?

Weiss was only a couple of years older than her, but the heiress seemed so...driven. Like being a team leader was but one of many more loftier responsibilities on her shoulders. And _Pyrrha_. She was renowned as a champion even younger than Ruby was now! She might've gotten into Beacon earlier than her friends back home, but Weiss and Pyrrha had certainly put her life in perspective…

Ruby tipped back her chair and sighed at the ceiling, as if she could foresee the future in its drearily neutral color. Well, at least she didn't have to worry about making friends. She was already shoved into a "friend group" with her teammates. Despite their personal accolades, Weiss and Pyrrha seemed nice enough. Weiss was a little cold and strict, sure, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It meant she took her responsibilities seriously. Not _everyone_ needed to be as boisterous and zany as her sister—thank Oum. Pyrrha seemed friendlier. Kind of…reserved, but friendlier.

But were they really " _friend_ " material?. They had years more experience than her. Sure, Ruby knew her scythes from her kamas, but she was still the rookie. She doesn't have Weiss' family influence or Pyrrha's reputation. And just because they could work together didn't mean she could suddenly be all chummy with them. They might be good co-workers, but that didn't guarantee she could form a deep bond with them. She felt she could trust Weiss to be a capable leader and Pyrrha to watch her back, but Ruby wouldn't really consider Weiss "best-friend" material, while Pyrrha… Well, let's just say Ruby's relieved she didn't bring her posters of the fighting champion to school with her. They both seemed so serious and in-control, and while Ruby _knew_ she was passionate and driven, she wasn't... _them_.

 _Uggggghhhhh_.

What if Ozpin had overestimated her? What if she flunked? Oh _Dust_ , _what_ would she tell _Dad?!_ Maybe Blake was right. Maybe she _was_ too starry-eyed. Blake hadn't said it directly when they'd talked in the library, but Ruby knew that's what she was thinking. Blake had judged her as a girl still playing hero. And wasn't she right? Ruby had _dreamt_ about fighting monsters just like in her fairytales. But like Blake said, not all stories end like those ones, where the monsters were slain and the heroes win a happily ever after. This was their _life_. Being a Huntress wasn't a fairytale where some intervention of Oum would gobble up any enemy before they even finished monologuing. People _died_. Even the best of them...like Mom.

Ruby only had vague memories of her mother, barely more than impressions—the tinkling of her laughter like silver bells, and the scent of vanilla when she snuggled into the soft velvet of her cloak—but Yang said she was like a "Super-Mom." Her sister would tell her bedtime stories about how Mom was the slayer of giant monsters, and could hack the entrails out of the belly of any baddie. Ruby chuckled. Dad would scold Yang for telling her gory stories right before bed, but even he would say what a skilled Huntress her mom was. She would be as graceful as dancing moonbeams, but as deadly as a viper—and then Dad would kiss her on the forehead, and say that Ruby was just like her.

But even Mom had lost.

Ruby growled, wiping at the corners of her eyes with frustration. One misstep, and _she_ could wind up on the school's newspaper obituary. (Ozpin had informed them of this feature during his speech. Ruby still didn't know if he had been joking or not.)

But no. She refused. She _refused_ to lose. She had made it to Beacon, and by the love of Oum, she would give it everything she got!

Ruby blew a hot breath, flicking her bangs out of her eyes. She needed something, anything, to get her mind to _stop jittering_. She rapped her fingers on the desk, her eyes scanning the undecorated room...before landing on her backpack.

Ozpin _did_ say it was up to them to take the first steps. Might as well start now.

She removed a stack of books—both her required textbooks and ones she had checked out in the library for her independent studies—and heaved them onto the desk with a dull _thunk!_ She was almost relieved for the busy work. Even when everything else was in chaos, she could always depend on school to make sense. It had a certain logic to it, a familiar routine she could always fall back on. But if she was being honest, most of the credit would go to Dad. Having a teacher for a parent gave a definite leg-up (no matter how much Yang griped). She remembered coming home from school each day, and Dad greeting her with a plate of cookies and milk on the dining room table. She would set her homework down, and they would work through the problems one by one together.

When Ruby got out her worksheet, she almost smiled at the familiarity. She opened the first textbook— _An Introduction to the Inner Workings of Dust_ —and flipped to the assigned page. She knew less about Dust than she would like to admit, but hey, not everyone had the heiress of the most prominent Dust company as their team leader. She made her way through the text, and soon the uniformity of the chemical compositions and formulas steaded her frenzied thoughts. She pored over the history of Dust and its many uses, from powering the very light she was reading by to their enhancements of weapons and even clothes. Every so often she would scribble a note or a question in the margin, like why each nation had a different philosophy for handling the energy source, and how each culture influenced that philosophy.

Ruby fought back a yawn as she underlined a passage about using raw Dust to power attacks...hey, kind of like Weiss...and eventually...the words started to blur, and she blinked...but her eyelids felt heavy...so heavy…. She laid down her head on the page, her eyes glazing over the lines of text. Huh, this wasn't such a bad pos-posit—

l*l*l*l*l*l

Weiss glanced at the clock when she entered the commons' room. Almost midnight. She exhaled, exasperated. She had meant to get an early night's rest, but lost track of time while training. Father would've scolded her—timeliness was as important, if not more so, than the event itself. But tonight might be the exception. She had managed to keep her wits about her throughout the first day of school, but the stress had still accumulated in her shoulders and neck. Going through her exercises and the familiar routine of steps and lunges had helped loosen the tension. Better to nip the nerves in the bud sooner rather than later.

But as she strode to her dorm and noticed how deserted the hallways...she thought she _might've_ overdone it. And apparently she wasn't the only one.

Weiss unlocked her dorm, swinging the door open—and just managed to catch it before it slammed against the wall. The first thing she saw was Ruby. The girl's vibrant color scheme was the one highlight in the otherwise bland dormitory. She stared at Ruby, crouched over a textbook with a mountain more beside her. By the little snores, she was fast asleep.

Weiss stepped towards her. She tilted her head until she could see what book Ruby had designated as her impromptu pillow. Her eyes instantly recognized the terminology. While she had not read this specific textbook on Dust, she had done enough research to recognize what the chapter was on and almost verbatim what information it would tell. Seemed to be intro-level material. But judging by how Ruby was drooling a good third-ways into the book—and only on the first day—it seemed she had taken her studies seriously. Well, at least she didn't have to worry about reprimanding her teammate about work ethics.

Weiss smirked; she could discuss the theories of Dust at family dinners since as soon as she could form full sentences. But the book's illustrated diagram of the forms of the energy source and their combinations brought back memories. Dust had flowed through her veins as much as blood did. While other girls had posters of their famous fighters hanging next to their bed, she had a timeline of the major discoveries of Dust and their specific categories. Instead of children's tales, her literary diet consisted of any material of the subject she could get her hands-on. She would hold up in her little corner in the library of her family's estate, studying textbook after textbook about Dust and business strategies until the rising sun was a blush in the sky. Winter had taught her how to hide the bags under her eyes with cosmetics, but it was more difficult to hide the terrible crick in her neck she'd wake up with. She'd have to square her shoulders and hold her head high each time her father introduced his business partners to her, all the while wishing she could just rest her aching head on a pillow.

She tilted her head now, looking at Ruby's sleeping face. The girl looked young in general, what with those bright eyes and unabashed grin like a child's. But in her sleep, her features softened to the point where Weiss could picture her years ago, a little girl still clinging to her mother's skirt.

For a moment, Weiss wondered if _she_ had ever looked so vulnerable and innocent. She almost snorted. Most certainly not.

Careful to keep her heels from clicking on the floor, she treaded lighted towards Ruby's bed, retrieving a pillow in the shape of a panda and a scarlet blanket. She slowly slipped the textbook out from under Ruby's head, and replaced it with the pillow, then draped the blanket across the girl's shoulders.

There. That should be better. She wouldn't want her teammates to be functioning at less than their maximum efficiency, now would she? They'd have a busy day tomorrow. ...T _oday, actually_ , she corrected, remembering the hour. A yawn overtook her, and she stretched her strain muscles as she exhaled. Speaking of…

She turned to her bed, but before she stepped away, a sound stopped her. A...murmur? She looked back to see that Ruby had curled the blanket tight around her. The girl sighed, her lips spread in a faint smile as her eyelashes fluttered.

Weiss smirked, rolling her eyes.

 _Dolt_.


End file.
